Hoist arm structure for refuse loaders



Dec. 3, 1968 J. B. SCHROERING 3,414,147

HOIST ARM STRUCTURE FOR REFUSE LOADERS Filed Feb. 17, 1967 Fig. 2 INVENTOR.

Jomv B. ScuRoERm/e mywMh/M @J flffarneu s United States Patent 3,414,147 HOIST ARM STRUCTURE FOR REFUSE LOADERS John B. Schroering, Louisville, Ky., assignor to Tri-City Industrial Services, Inc., Louisville, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Filed Feb. 17, 1967, Ser. No. 616,926 1 Claim. (Cl. 214-314) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hoist arm structure in which the container to be unloaded is pivoted on an axis displaced vertically above the pivotal axis of the hoist arms thereby providing a compound motion to the lift bar carried by the hoist arms so that the container may be rotated and held through an angle of more than ninety degrees.

Background of the invention The field of the invention is material or article handling and the invention relates more specifically to receptacle emptying devices for storage bin type receivers.

Description of the prior art.Both stationary and mobile refuse compactors, or packers, are well known in the prior art, an example of the former being disclosed in U.S. Patent 3,250,414 and of the latter in US. Patent 3,140,788. Effective unloading of specialized, mobile containers or refuse-containing carts into the receiving bin of the packer requires that the containers be tilted beyond a vertical position, that is, through angle of more than ninety degrees. The prior art hoist assemblies for elevating and tilting refuse containers, particularly where the hoist arm structure is coordinated with movement of the packer ram, are relatively complicated and vulnerable to jamming and obstructions caused by the spilling over of refuse or other material being unloaded.

Summary The structure of the present invention utilizes containers adapted to be moved onto a dock ramp, and having on the forward endface of each of the containers a socket or detent member for receiving a transverse, stationary rod defining the pivotal axis of the container during the container-tilting operation. The containers are further provided, on their base and overlying the ramp fioor, with retainer member located adjacent the rear end of the container. These cooperate with a transverse lift bar to form a hooking relation with the bar as the bar engages the container base and tilts the container through its pivotal motion. The hoist arm components, carrying the lift bar, are pivoted on an axis spaced above the ramp floor and this pivot axis is spaced somewhat below the transverse stationary rod defining the container tilt axis. Since the lift bar and the container do not, thus, move about the same axis, the lift bar, during the tilting operation, moves rectilinearly along the container base and completes the hooking or latching engagement with thev retainer members, this latching engagement permitting tilting of the container beyond the ninety degree or vertical position. The slotted, or lost motion connection between the hoist arm components and the transverse lift bar prevents interference with the normal container-tilt operation by debris or other material accumulating on the ramp floor.

Brief description of the drawings The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claim.

FIG. 1 is a side view of the apparatus of the present Patented Dec. 3, 1968 invention with environmental elements being shown only fragmentarily.

FIG. 2 is an end view of a portion of the structure shown in FIG. 1 and taken from the right hand end thereof.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring to the drawings, reference numeral 10 designates a receiving bin of a conventional refuse compacting device, a portion of the ram component of the packing device being indicated at 11. In a sequence which forms no part of the present invention the ram 11 is advanced from its position of FIG. 1 to a leftward position, carrying with it the pivotally attached actuating arms 12, the arm 12 being shown in broken lines (12a) in FIG. 1 in the position it assumes when the ram 11 is at the far end of its stroke. The arms 12 extend upwardly above, and on each side of, a dock or ramp indicated at 13, the floor of the ramp being indicated at 13a. Stationary, vertical upright members 14 are welded or otherwise rigidly attached to the ramp 13 adjacent the packer bin 10 and on opposite sides of the ramp.

Pivotally supported by the uprights 14, at a point intermediate their ends, are hoist arms 16. One end of each of the hoist arms is pivotally connected at 17 to the adjacent ends of the actuating arms 12. As will be evident from FIG. 1, advancement of the ram 11 to its leftward position, moving the actuating arm 12 to its broken line position 12a, will cause the hoist arms 16 to rotate clockwise (as viewed in FIG. 1) about their pivots 19. The free ends of the hoist arms 16 are joined by means of a transverse lift bar 21, the lift bar extending across the ramp floor 13a. The lift bar and the ends of the hoist arms are joined by a connecting means in the form of brackets 20 rigidly attached to the hoist arms. The brackets have close-d slots 20a into which the lift bar extends, thus providing a lost-motion connection between the bar and the arms.

The floor of the ramp may be provided with a recess or detent socket, as indicated at 22 in FIG. 1, which accommodates the lift bar 21 and permits it to rest below the ramp floor 13a thereby preventing obstruction of the ramp floor when the hoist arms 16 are in their solid line positions of FIG. 1. Should the recess 22 become filled with debris, because of the lost motion connection between the arms 16 and bar 21, the linkage will not be stressed or deformed. The ramp 13 is adapted to accommodate wheeled containers or carts 23 (FIG. 1) which, when filled with refuse or material to be unloaded are wheeled along the ramp to the solid line position shown in FIG. 1. The forward end face or surface of the containers is provided with a socket member which may take the form of an indentation in the end surface of the container, as shown in FIG. 1, or which might take the form of a recessed bracket. The socket in the container is identified at 26 in FIG. 1 and is adapted to accommodate the other portion of the cooperating container pivot means, this portion taking the form of a stationary rod 27 extending horizontally across the end of the container and supported by the upright members 14. As will be evident from FIG. 1, the rod 27 provides the pivotal axis about which the container 23 is tilted during the unloading operation to be subsequently described. The base of the container 23 is provided with a latching means which may take the form of members or brackets 28 having a recess 29 open toward the rear end of the container. The recess 29 in the brackets 28 is sized so as to freely accommodate the lift bar 21.

In operation, as the ram 11 advances leftwardly in its stroke, the actuating arms 12 will pivot the hoist arms 16 clockwise (as viewed in FIG. 1) about their axis 19. The hoist bar 21 will be moved arcuately upwardly into engagernent with the base of the container 23 and further movement of the arms 16 and the lift bar 21 will serve to pivot the container about its tilt axis 27 into the broken line position shown in FIG. 1. As the container is moved between its solid line and broken line positions of FIG. 1, because of the difference in location of the pivot axis for the hoist arm 16 and for the container, the lift bar 21 will move, during its arcuate motion, a short distance rectilinearly inward as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1. As Will be evident from the broken line position of the bar 21 and the container, this inward motion of the lift bar 21 caused by the difference in position of the pivotal axis of the bar and of the cart, serves to detent or seat the lift bar 21 within the latch member 28. This provides a secure, hooked engagement between the bar 21 and the container so that it may be tilted to an angle beyond the vertical, as shown in FIG. 1 in broken lines, and the contents emptied into the receiving bin.

Subsequent rightward movement of the ram 11 will serve to lower the cart back to its solid line position and to rectiliuearly move the lift rod 21 out of the latching member 28, freeing it for subsequent downward movement into the recess 22, and permitting the emptied cart to be moved from the ramp.

While the invention has been disclosed and described in some detail in the drawings and foregoing description, they are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, as other modifications may readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in this art and within the broad scope of the invention, reference being made to the appended claim.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for lifting and tilting a container through an obtuse angle above a supporting ramp surface, cooperating container pivot means disposed at one end of the container and supported jointly by the container and said ramp surface, said container pivot means defining the axis about which the container may be pivoted by elevation of its opposite end, and means for elevating said opposite container end comprising hoist arms disposed on opposite sides of said container and supported on a common pivotal axis intermediate their ends, a lift bar underlying and transversely spanning the base of said container adjacent its said opposite ends, connecting means connecting the ends of said lift bar with said hoist arms including a closed slot formed in said lift arms, said lift bar extending into said lift arm slots to form a lost motion connection between said hoist arms and lift bar, latching means carried by the container base including a member having a recess open toward said opposite end of the container and adapted to accommodate said lift bar, said common pivotal axis of said hoist arms being spaced below said container pivot axis whereby pivotal motion of said hoist arms causes said lift bar to engage the base of said container and pivot it about the axis defined by said container pivot means, the spacing of said container pivot axis and said hoist arm pivotal axis providing a rectilinear motion to said lift bar along the base of the container to thereby seat the lift bar in said latching member recess as the container is tilted.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,280,997 10/1966 Pioch 214-302 HUGO O. SCHULZ, Primary Examiner. 

